Bleach: Choetsu
by AnimeVeteran
Summary: Set hundreds of years after the Bleach canon, this story follows the journey of my OC, Matsuo Taiki, the new Lieutenant of Squad Three as he investigates unusual spiritual activity and a new enemy that threatens the World of the Living and Soul Society.


Episode 1 – Soul Seeker

A young man walked alone down a sidewalk in an urban part of America. Houses in the casual neighborhood were dark in the bleak hours of the night. The moon was just coming out of a new moon cycle, a crescent barely visible in the clear sky above. The stars were vibrant, although the streetlights along the sidewalks made it difficult to see all of them. Knowing this, the man just kept strolling, not minding the cosmos in its peaceful clarity above him. A cool breeze rustled the leaves on some small, newly planted trees lining the road, which stretched and wound with hundreds of homes on either side. Each tap of the man's feet echoed slightly into the night, with not a soul to hear.

Well, not exactly none, it would seem.

In the shadows of the many homes around him, a creature lurked – a being that could be called a demon if anyone could see it. Its eyes burned a deep red, with a bloodlust that seemed to make them glow behind a bone white mask. The creature's body was a shadowy contrast to its own visage, towering over any average person. It had sharp fangs that glistened with saliva, as it followed the scent it had been tracking for days, hungrily slinking after its prey. Though its claws left huge slices in the ground, it made no sound at all as it stalked the young man walking in the dark of night.

"I've waited… long enough," it thought. Leaping over the tops of the houses it had been hiding behind, it landed with a slight resultant breeze, directly behind its unsuspecting target. The invisible shadow it cast over its victim was nearly as pitch black as the sky above, save for one round spot of light where a streetlight shone through a gaping hole in the beast's chest. It was sure of its victory. There was no way any human could ever sense its presence.

However, just as it touched down, the man froze in place. The creature behind him froze as well, not moving an inch.

"Did he hear me?" it thought. "Impossible… I was completely silent! There's no way he could have known… sheer coincidence." With this self-consolation, it slowly lowered its head to take a bite of its fresh, new meal…

And then the man collapsed.

Just fell over, smack dab, flat onto the pavement. The beast stood there, bewildered.

"What the…? What's withthis guy? Is this really the person who smelled so appetizing?" it wondered to itself.

That's when it noticed. It sniffed the air once, twice. The scent was gone, completely vanished from where it had been a moment before. He leaned in to inspect the body that lay in front of it, when suddenly it moved, twitching slightly. Then it rolled onto its back, an annoyed look on its face.

"Aw, man!" the young man muttered to himself. "I hate it when he does this to me out of the blue!"

"He's alive," thought the creature. "But he's acting so diff—"

"Hey! Tall, pale and gruesome!" the man spat.

"Is he… is he talking to me?" the beast wondered, stunned.

"Hey!I'm talking to you! Filthy, stinking Hollow – hey, Matsuo!" he yelled abruptly into the air. "Finish this one off already, will ya? You know I don't like it when I have to sit in your body while you have all the fun!"

"What?!" the beast thought. It sniffed the air again, and realized the scent he had been following hadn't vanished, but moved… right above the creature itself.

It looked straight up into the sky, searching for where the scent's origin was. But it couldn't see a thing.

"Yo!" another voice called out.

The beast spun around to see the same man that was lying at its feet, standing on top of a lamppost directly behind him. He was different, though, with an entirely different outfit. Instead of the casual clothes worn by the body on the ground, this man wore a black, uniform-like shihakusho with a gold obi sash around his waist. Another gold ribbon of cloth was strung diagonally across his chest and over his shoulder, where it held a katana, whose golden hilt pointed upwards. The man stood on one foot, perfectly balanced on the very top of the lamppost with no trouble at all. He looked as though he were lighter than air, wearing a casual grin on his face as he brushed his golden blonde hair out of his bright blue eyes.

"No wonder you smelled so good." The creature, known as a Hollow, snarled. "I should have known it was a Shinigami all along!"

"You know," the man named Matsuo said, completely disregarding the Hollow's remark, "I don't like it when things like you follow me around in the middle of the night. Makes me nervous." As he said this, he reached behind his back and gently grasped the hilt of the katana.

"Oh, no you don't!" the Hollow howled, springing toward Matsuo with claws outstretched and fangs borne. It moved so fast that no man could possibly react in time.

But just as it was about to slice open its target, Matsuo vanished into thin air. Not a trace of him was left where he stood. The Hollow stopped short.

"Wha… Where'd he go?!" It looked around desperately. As it searched for its adversary, a faint glint caught its eye not far below its face. Looking down, it saw the tip of a katana blade sticking out of the hole in its chest. The Hollow froze with fear.

"I never did like this job," Matsuo's voice muttered directly behind the Hollow. "You Hollows are always too violent. Always causing an uproar and threatening innocent souls."

"You…YOU BAST—"

The katana sliced straight up, cutting through the Hollow's chest and right up the middle of its mask. The Hollow dissolved into nothingness, blood spraying from the cut; however, not even a speck remained anywhere on the sidewalk after the creature's disappearance. Matsuo sheathed his sword with a clack.

"And always so foul-mouthed," he muttered.

He glanced across the street. "Alright, you can come out now!" he called. A small boy, hidden behind a lamppost directly across from Matsuo, peeked out. He looked around nervously, gradually emerging from his hiding place.

"Don't worry. That one won't be coming back anytime soon," Matsuo assured the boy, walking across the street to meet him beneath the streetlight. A small section of chain hung from the middle of the boy's chest, breaking off a few links down. Rattling slightly as he took a few timid steps forward, it shone silver in the light of the lamppost.

"Is… is it… are you sure it's gone, mister?" the boy murmured.

"I'm sure," Matsuo said, smiling gently. He kneeled down to the boy's height and gave him a reassuring pat on the head, rustling his short hair. "But unless you want to run into another one of those things, you need to let me help you."

With these words, Matsuo reached for his sword. Frightened, the boy took a sudden step backwards.

"Oh, hey, don't worry!" Matsuo said with a grin. "I'm not going to take it out. I'm just going to give you a little tap on the forehead, so you can pass on."

"Pass on? Wh… where will I go?" the boy asked.

"It's a place called Soul Society," Matsuo explained. "It's a safe place where lots of people live. You'll be happy there, I promise." He slowly moved the butt of his sword toward the boy's forehead.

"Wait!" the boy squeaked.

Matsuo hesitated. "What is it?" he inquired calmly.

"Mister, what's your name?"

The Shinigami gave a slight chuckle. "Matsuo Taiki," he said with a smile. He lowered his katana and offered the boy his hand. "What about you?"

"Michael." The boy smiled. "Michael Sanders!" He reached out and warmly shook Matsuo's hand.

"Well, Michael, I'll tell you what," said Matsuo. "If you let me send you on your way, I'll come and find you, and we can play together sometime. Alright?"

"Sure!" Michael said, grinning. He stood up as tall as he could, bracing for what was to come.

Matsuo laughed softly to himself at seeing such a little boy acting so brave.

"You're a tough one, kid."

With that, he gently touched the butt of his sword to Michael's forehead. A small symbol appeared there, beginning to shine with a brilliant white-blue light. Michael's expression became peaceful, and he slowly melted away. When he had completely vanished, a small black butterfly with red-tipped wings appeared in his place and flew off into the night sky. Matsuo looked on after it with satisfaction.

"Hey, man! Come on! How much slower could you be?" came an impatient shout from across the street.

Matsuo's head dropped as the pleasantness of the moment shattered.

"I mean, for Pete's sake, do you have to make it such a personal endeavor whenever you perform a Konso?" said Matsuo's body as it walked over to him. "Stuff like that makes me sick – not to mention being in this body of yours!"

"Good lord, Koto!" Matsuo retorted. "You have to be one of the most selfish Mod Souls I've ever worked with!"

"Yeah, yeah, how many times have you used that one?" Koto snapped back. "Unless there's another Hollow nearby that needs killing, will you just get back in your Gigai? I think I'm getting a headache just from being here in this—"

"Alright, alright, I get it!" Matsuo sighed. "Keep up this attitude and I may have to trade you in for someone else."

"Yeah, right. You know you couldn't get by without me!" said Koto with a smirk.

Matsuo walked up behind his body, stepping right into it through the back. After regaining control over it, he coughed up a small green pill and put it into his pocket.

"Lucky for you, that's all we need to take care of… for now," Matsuo muttered. He took out a cell phone, flipped it open, and gave it a quick look over. Not finding anything of interest, he closed it, pocketed it, and returned to the sidewalk to continue his midnight stroll.

"Strange," he thought. "I could have sworn I was called here to kill more than just those few… Looks like I may have some tracking to do tomorrow."

Meanwhile, a lone figure sat on the rooftop of a nearby house. He wore sound cancelling headphones over his ears, loud music just audible from a short distance away. He bobbed his head and tapped his foot to the rhythm, occasionally swiping a hand downward during a shift in the song. Even with all of his movement, he was quiet. The faint moonlight reflected off of his glasses as he adjusted them on his nose.

Standing up, he looked on as Matsuo strolled down the sidewalk. Grinning, the figure lowered the headphones off of his ears. Electronic music blasted from either ear cover as he pulled an MP3 player from his pocket to put it on pause.

"I knew that song would suit his fight," he said to himself, his tone hushed. "Too bad it happened so quickly though… I didn't even get to the second drop in the song yet."

With that, he hopped down from the roof of the two-story house he had been perched on. As he landed, a small, silver cross pendant on a chain swung out from his sleeve and down past his hand. A blue stone in the center shone with the mark of infinity in the light of the street lamp.

"Now… what song should I listen to for the walk home?" he mumbled as he looked through his music player. He skipped forward a couple of times, then raised his eyebrows in satisfaction at a song he'd found. He shifted his headphones back onto his ears and pressed play. A new tune reverberated in his ears, and he resumed nodding his head to the beat as he walked in the opposite direction of Matsuo. The pendant around his wrist swung in time, shimmering as he strolled off into the night.

"A new Shinigami. Should be fun," he said to himself.

"Hey, Matsuo!" You up to much this afternoon? I got a sweet new multiplayer game we can try out!"

"Maybe later, I'm swamped by this paper I need to write."

"Oh, yeah, that would do it. Later, man!"

Matsuo waved goodbye to his classmate. Posing as an eighteen year old student at a college campus wasn't the easiest thing to pull off, especially when you had to do the schoolwork too, merely for the sake of blending in.

Matsuo Taiki. Apparent age 18 years old. Blonde hair, blue eyes, five feet eleven inches tall. He wasn't the strongest looking person around, but he certainly wasn't weak, either. Smart, but not the smartest; a college student like almost anyone else his age. Except, of course, for one crucial difference.

Matsuo was stationed in America to keep an eye on the steadily rising Hollow population, as well as keep tabs on the rising number of spiritual events occurring in the town of Grand Rapids, Michigan. Such were the duties of a god of death, or Shinigami. Matsuo had been sent by the Thirteen Court Guard Squads from Soul Society as one of their primary choices to handle such cases; he was the lieutenant of Squad Three under Izuru Kira, who had eventually taken over as captain of the squad after Roujuurou Outoribashi. Matsuo didn't really feel the title of vice-captain suited him, but he accepted at the insistence of his superiors and supporters. After all, even though he appeared to be eighteen, he was probably over three hundred years old, not counting his life as a human beforehand!

Once he had gained his title, he had almost immediately been sent back to America to investigate some concerning issues. He was more than happy to accept the assignment. The investigation would be ongoing, and until he could deduce the rightful cause of such spikes in spiritual activity, he wouldn't be returning to Soul Society. And that was just fine with him.

For now, he had little to worry about. There hadn't been much activity as far as he could tell, and he was itching to get back to his dorm and relax a bit. Unfortunately, the place was on the other side of campus, making the walk to and from classes quite the trek. The weather was on his side, though. After taking a breath of fresh air into his lungs, he gave a lighthearted sigh and strolled down the campus sidewalks. It was quaint little pleasures like this that he cherished: peaceful moments accompanied by pleasant scenery. It would be autumn soon. The first college semester and only just started and his teachers were already loading him with homework.

About half the way to his dorm, Matsuo was scanning his surroundings, his gaze resting on the nearby wooded area in particular. He had always loved wandering through the wilderness when he was younger, and he still found it refreshing every so often. But today wasn't a day for frolicking in the woods.

Then, as he glanced toward the trees, something caught his eye. Something was moving through the woods. He couldn't quite make it out, and it gave him pause as he tried to distinguish what it was.

"Well," he thought, "better check and make sure it isn't some soul in distress."

He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small green pill: Koto. He popped it into his mouth and swallowed. With a flash his spirit flew from his body, dressed in Shinigami uniform with his sword upon his back. His body remained standing, although its facial expression changed to one of annoyance.

"Oh, come on… again?!" Koto complained.

"Just relax. I'm going to check this out really quick. You just have to make sure I get back to my dorm. There're some fresh apples in the mini fridge if you want them."

Koto brightened a little at that. Anything sweet could usually entice him, but fresh fruits were among his favorites.

He shrugged. "I guess I can let it slide this time… just don't take too long, or else I'll leave your body somewhere you'll never find it!"

"You know you can't leavea body without my help." Matsuo smiled to himself.

"Yeah, yeah – get moving," Koto said as he walked away.

With barely a tap of his foot, Matsuo flew through the trees. He glided between the trunks as if he'd known how to navigate them his whole life. Even the branches were hardly disturbed as he rushed past. After this first long bound, he lighted down on a branch of a particularly tall oak, glancing below him to try and catch any sign of activity.

Then he saw it – a hint of movement off to his left. He flew straight towards it, being careful to land quietly, lest he scare the thing off or bring attention to himself.

There in front of him was a young girl that couldn't have been older than ten. She stood there, still as could be, with pure white clothes and light brown hair. She hadn't noticed Matsuo behind her yet.

"Little girl…" he said calmly, "…are you all right?"

The girl turned to him slowly. She was definitely a lost soul: the chain that connected the soul to the body was broken. But the way she looked back at Matsuo made him uneasy. She had a bleak stare, her eyes dull and shady, and her face was completely blank.

"Yes, sir," she said in a weak voice. "I'm all right."

A sudden blast of spiritual pressure froze Matsuo where he stood. The force was far too great for him not to have sensed it earlier. He looked up to see rifts in space materializing above him. As they each opened, white masks emerged from the dark voids – Hollows. At least thirty had appeared above where Matsuo stood.

"What?!" thought Matsuo. "There's no way such a small soul could bring together such a massive number of Hollows... Are they after me?"

He sprinted forward, wrapping the girl in his arms, and took off deeper into the woods. He kept going until he came upon a small clearing. Rushing to the farthest edge, he set the girl down as gently as possible.

"Stay here and keep out of sight," Matsuo instructed her. She just nodded slightly in response.

"Poor girl," thought Matsuo. "She must be in shock… I'll have to tend to her as soon as I can."

Turning around, Matsuo drew his sword from his back. He stood at the ready as the onslaught of Hollows charged toward him, maws wide open, claws outstretched, emitting howls of rage. Matsuo brought his sword behind him, taking a low stance, and muttered:

"Darken heaven…"

END EPISODE 1

**おわり**


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